BUT GOD

Three months ago today. That’s when it all went down, when we almost lost Keith.

But God…

Actually, the week before he thought he had the flu and felt more fatigued than he could ever remember feeling.  At the end of the week, Friday, he had terrible pain in his ear; diagnosed later as an ear infection.  Then Saturday morning, three months ago today, he woke up with The. Worst.  Headache. Ever. He said it only hurt when he moved and breathed.  His temp was 100.3.

I had a commitment to be away that weekend with my junior high school girlfriends.  Keith insisted I go as planned, and he went to bed to try to sleep off the headache.  I asked him to go to Urgent Care; he didn’t want to.  So, I arranged for our dear friend and neighbor, Colleen, to check in on him.  Then I headed out the door…

But God…

I continued to check on him, but he asked me not to call or text anymore.  Colleen looked in on him but he insisted he was fine and just wanted to sleep.  Twenty minutes later he texted her to “come up hill”, meaning to say “come up here” (auto-correct or early mental issues?); 30 minutes later they were on their way to Urgent Care.

When the doctor finally saw him, Keith could not speak intelligibly; he knew what he wanted to say but all that came out was gibberish.  The doctor’s eyes widened with extreme concern.  Colleen asked if he was having a stroke.  The doctor then left to call an ambulance to transport him to St. Jude Medical Center immediately; it was just across the street. At 3:11 PM she texted me saying, “I need you to come home.”

But God…

…Provided my dear friend, Debi, to drive me directly to the hospital and stay with me overnight.  Kole arrived to be with his dad, who was incoherent, thrashing in his bed from the pain and fever.  Tests and scans ruled out stroke but showed he was septic, infection raging through his blood stream.  A spinal tap provided the grave diagnosis: meningitis.  It would take 24 – 48 hours to determine which bacteria was doing the damage…

By God’s grace the deadliest bacteria were ruled out, but waiting for cultures to show which one it was seemed…to…take…f-o-r-e-v-e-r!

In the meantime Keith was treated with five different antibiotics, but until the bacteria was identified and the right one was administered, all treatment was basically ineffective. Without all of the information about what Keith was battling it only seemed he was getting what was needed to cure him. I would encourage him to hang on, that he’d feel better soon, but my words weren’t doing any more good than those wrong antibiotics; they were mere platitudes, though I sincerely believed them. He did get a little better – coherent and able to communicate again – but he was still in grave danger as the infection raged through his cerebral spinal fluid, as well as his blood stream.

But God…

Finally, word came that Keith was battling Haemophilus Influenzae Bacteria, commonly known as H-flu. We’re told it resides in all of us, in our ears, nasal and sinus passages, usually without issue.  But if it pools in the “right place” it can cause problems; in children causing ear infections; in adults, typically manifesting as bronchitis.

In Keith it became a mortal enemy, disguising itself as something his body thought was harmless. It wasn’t.  With the body’s defenses down, it came in, and with a hook, bore a hole into his cells, destroying and taking them over, growing wherever it wanted…

But God…

And finally the right antibiotic was administered and real healing began.  Keith got to come home, when he was no longer septic. I was to administer the drug at home by IV for 10 days.  Tests were done to make sure the H-flu hadn’t hidden itself in his heart valves, where it could once again rear it’s deceptive, ugly head and take over his defenses-down body.  Yet, even that test might not be sufficient and we would need to watch for fever and/or flu symptoms, early signs of re-infection.

God had guided the physicians and the worst was behind us; recovery of health, strength and mental acuity would slowly return over the next couple of months.  Today, three months later, the only residual effects are depression and processing thoughts a little more slowly than pre-meningitis.  Miraculous…it could have been so much worse.

Of course, as I pondered and prayed about this life experience I saw a correlation to our spiritual lives…

Wasn’t the way Keith’s body was attacked similar to the ways Satan (and sin) tries to take over the life of every human?  Deceiving and leading us to think something is normal or harmless, when it’s allowed to enter our hearts…minds…bodies it infects and threatens our very lives. Yet, believers in Jesus have found the right treatment, the only treatment that works at the source: the blood of Jesus, shed to bring life from certain death.  Anything else is mere platitude, no matter how sincerely it is believed.

But, when our defenses are down even believers can be deceived.  The Bible says our enemy, the devil, prowls around seeking someone to devour (see 1 Peter 5: 8 – 11).  Yet, with God’s power that rose Jesus from the grave (the same power that is alive in each of us who believe in Him), we can resist the temptations, stand firm in the faith, not give the deceiver any place to enter, pool and fester, and start to infect.

How I love the life and healing that is found in God’s word!  It states in Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

And in Ephesians 2: 1, 4-5 it says, “And you were dead in your trespasses and sins…But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love that He had for us, made us alive with the Messiah (Christ Jesus) even though we were dead in trespasses. You are saved by grace!” (Emphasis mine)

Oh, Lord Jesus, what joy to be able to say, “But God…”  We are so grateful for the life you have given…restored…provided, as we have seen your healing hand again and again over these past three months.  Help us to remember that your power goes beyond anything we can imagine, and that NOTHING is too hard for you.